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(1) Parties are associations of citizens which exert influence permanently or for longer periods of time on the formation of the political will at federal or Land level and participate in the representation of the people in the German Bundestag or regional parliaments (Landtag) provided that they offer sufficient guarantee of the sincerity of their aims in the general character of their circumstances and attendant conditions, particularly with regard to the size and strength of their organization, their memberships and their conduct in public. Only natural persons may be members of a party.
(2) An organization shall lose its legal status as a party if it does not participate in either a federal election or a Landtag election with nominations of its own for six years.
(3) Political organizations shall not be deemed parties if
1. the majority of their members or the members of their executive committees are aliens; or
2. the registered seat of business is located outside the purview of the present law.